The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 2 to 3 August 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.
Background Bobby Finke of the United States, who set the 14:30.67 world record to win the event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was aiming to claim his first international gold in this event outside the Olympics. Germany’s Florian Wellbrock entered in strong form, having posted a world-leading 14:36.25 and having won multiple open water titles in 2025, while fellow German Sven Schwarz had recorded a 14:36.82, which made him the ninth-fastest performer in history. Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen, the 2024 world champion, was ranked fourth globally with a 14:42.71 season best. Young contenders, including Turkey’s Kuzey Tunçelli, Hungary’s Dávid Betlehem, and Japan’s Kazushi Imafuku, were also seeking finals places.
Qualification Each National Federation was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but they could do so only if both of them had attained the "A" standard qualification time. For this event, the "A" standard qualification time was 15:01.89. Federations could enter one athlete into the event if they met the "B" standard qualification time. For this event, the "B" standard qualification time was 15:33.46. Athletes could also enter the event if they had met an "A" or "B" standard in a different event and their Federation had not entered anyone else. Additional considerations applied to Federations who had few swimmers enter through the standard qualification times. Federations in this category could at least enter two men and two women to the competition, all of whom could enter into up to two events. +Top 10 fastest qualification timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionBobby Finke14:30.672024 Summer OlympicsGregorio Paltrinieri14:34.552024 Summer OlympicsFlorian Wellbrock14:36.252025 German ChampionshipsSven Schwarz14:36.822025 German ChampionshipsDaniel Wiffen14:39.632024 Summer OlympicsDávid Betlehem14:40.912024 Summer OlympicsKuzey Tunçelli14:41.222024 Summer OlympicsAhmed Jaouadi14:43.352024 Summer OlympicsDavid Aubry14:44.662024 Summer OlympicsDamien Joly14:45.522024 Summer Olympics
Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
Heats The heats took place on 2 August at 11:34.
Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 4 Florian Wellbrock 14:44.81 Q 2 3 6 Ahmed Jaouadi 14:44.95 Q 3 2 3 Kuzey Tunçelli 14:45.28 Q 4 3 5 Sven Schwarz 14:45.31 Q 5 3 4 Bobby Finke 14:45.70 Q 6 3 1 Samuel Short 14:46.24 Q 7 2 7 Zalán Sárkány 14:47.89 Q 8 3 2 Damien Joly 14:51.06 Q 9 2 1 David Johnston 14:56.20 10 3 3 Dávid Betlehem 14:59.09 11 2 6 David Aubry 15:03.32 12 2 2 Fei Liwei 15:05.24 13 2 8 Victor Johansson 15:06.17 14 3 9 Nguyễn Huy Hoàng 15:19.39 15 3 7 Kazushi Imafuku 15:24.98 16 2 0 Ilia Sibirtsev 15:30.66 17 3 0 Marin Mogić 15:36.12 18 2 9 Suleyman Ismayilzada 15:45.63 19 1 4 Kushagra Rawat 15:47.43 20 1 5 Líggjas Joensen 16:22.49 21 1 3 Ahmed Theibich 17:21.71 2 5 Daniel Wiffen 3 8 Benjamin Goedemans
Final The final took place on 3 August at 19:31.
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Ahmed Jaouadi 14:34.41 6 Sven Schwarz 14:35.69 2 Bobby Finke 14:36.60 4 7 Samuel Short 14:43.08 5 4 Florian Wellbrock 14:44.29 6 3 Kuzey Tunçelli 14:52.44 7 1 Zalán Sárkány 14:55.17 8 8 Damien Joly 15:19.06
References